Grandpa Rex and his Original Automobile

 

This is Grandpa Rex ... Mom/Margie's dad. 

In his history, he wrote "In 1937, I got a job as a bookkeeper and parts manager for a Chevrolet garage that opened in town. After a few months, I purchased my first car. It was a new 1937 2-door sedan and was I proud. Up until that time it had been necessary to wash the truck, after getting it unloaded, in order to go out on a date. During this time, I met a girl I was interested in by the name of Zada Howell. I started dating her and finally asked her to dance. She took me and said the answer was yes. Needless to say, we arrived at the dance just as it was letting out. We decided to get married on April 13, 1938, in the Manti Temple. About that time the manager of the garage was having financial problems; he didn’t know how to operate a car dealership and he wanted me to work part time only. I told him as I was getting married that I would have to look for another job. I did get a 30-day appointment with the Soil Conservation office in Salt Lake. After that job, I helped dad with trucking. I was in debt on my car for $400.00 and no job, but we got married anyway."

In reading family histories, it is always interesting to see what is important enough to that individual to include in their write up. This wasn't the first mention of vehicles in Rex's autobiography. In an earlier recollection of life as a teen he said "We would also take a horse and buggy and go over the mountain and stay for up to a week " and "We hauled coal for our own use by team and wagon. It would take us two days to make the trip of about twenty miles each way." Can you imagine? Two days for a 20 mile trip! 

1937 Chevy

While cars were invented in the late 1800s, it wasn't until the 1920s when they became more commonplace in the U.S. But then there was the Great Depression (historically dated from August 1929 – March 1933). Things must have been looking up a little by 1937 when Grandpa Rex made his purchase, although you can see in his history above, that finances were still strained. Grandpa Rex notes that he still owed $400 on his car ... it would have been interesting to know the original purchase price, and how it was financed. He doesn't specifically mention what type of car it was, but Mom/Margie thought that he would likely have purchased a Chevy as he was working for a Chevrolet garage. Googling "2-door sedan, 1937" ... it does look almost identical, although almost all the cars from that time seemed to have a similar shape and style.

Here's another picture ...

I love Grandma Zada's handwritten notation on it!

Here's a few more notes about vehicles from Grandpa's history ...

• While dad was working in Draper, Utah in 1934, he purchased a 1929 used Model A Ford passenger car. We would hook a small trailer behind it and would haul coal for our winter supply.
• In the spring of 1935, dad decided to quit the job in Draper and go into the trucking business. Just before quitting he traded the Model A for a used 1933 Chevrolet 1 ½ ton truck. He had my cousin teach me how to drive it by trucking hay from Delta, Utah.
• In 1936 dad purchased a new 1 ½ ton Chevrolet truck. We would also haul anything we could load on the truck.

Grandpa Rex didn't include any more information about this, or any other cars purchased for the family. In 1944 (seven years after the car purchase, so it was likely they still had this one) WWII was going on and Grandpa had to go into service. Grandma Zada never learned to drive, so who knows what would have happened to the car during the almost two years that Grandpa Rex was gone.  And while there were no more car memories written up, you can check out the trailer that Rex and his dad built for the young couple to live in! Home Sweet Norman Home. A home on wheels, which did end up traveling a bit!

Check out a compilation of Westra cars over the years.